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Kerberos Authentication

The current documentation creates a rather fruity security policy, passwords appear only to be checked on ssh connections, GDM logins completely skip password checking. With Ubuntu 8.04 comes updated documentation and a new nss-ldapd to cope with boot hangs.

Configure common-auth with the following, note that minimum_uid should not be used here.

auth	        sufficient	pam_krb5.so ccache=/tmp/krb5cc_%u
auth	        sufficient	pam_unix.so likeauth nullok_secure use_first_pass
auth	        required	pam_deny.so

Leaving common-account with minmum_uid checks.

account	required	pam_unix.so
account        required	pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000

And common-session with more checks and optional home directory creation. Note that if the home directories are NFS mounts and unavailable this can end up creating new local empty accounts which easily confuse end users.

session	required	pam_unix.so
session	optional	pam_foreground.so
session	optional	pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000

--Steve-o 2008-05-05

Samba TP4

The Samba team released another technology preview of the Active Directory compatible Samba 4 suite. This version concentrates on areas not immediately useful by a standalone directory server, so no new beta for a bit.

The WRAP embedded hardware unit is now EOL as the factory AMD used has stopped production, PC Engines and Soekris have replacement systems under development.

There are a few major issues with the web UI in the current beta release, fixes postponed until they become critical. There has been one instance of passwords expiring requiring a reboot.

--Steve-o 2007-03-15

1.0 Beta 6 Release

A new beta of the miru directory server adds some important updates to the Samba suite. Password expiry and time jump issues for Kerberos clients should be alleviated. This release includes the following features:

  • NEW: Gateway specification for DHCP.
  • NEW: Secondary group support for users.
  • NEW: Samba TP3.
  • NEW: Per VLAN DHCP service (previous implementation had DHCP direct support).
  • UPDATE: The LDAP schema for Unix accounts changed, gecos is now name, and uid is unixName.
  • FIX: Updating user & group entries in directory more robust.


This version has a slight update to the menu screen, there is a planned update to the web interface to support the new translations from Rosetta.

New console menu screen
Enlarge
New console menu screen

The wiki pages on Ubuntu installation and support have been updated to the full Edgy Eft 6.10 release.


NB: Beta release, implements all features in the initial software requirements specification, likely unstable.


Download the image files from the repository at Novell Forge: 1.0 beta 6. The web interface can be used to upgrade 1.0 beta 6 images using the compressed ISO package.


--Steve-o 2007-01-25

Mozilla Thunderbird Extension

Now available via the Thunderbird Add-ons site is the "AddTo Miru Directory Server" extension allowing you to directly add contact information to the LDAP directory. Post your suggestions on the miru-ocean-user and miru-ocean-dev mailing lists for ideas and implementations for the next release.

--Steve-o 2006-10-15

Edgy Eft Beta

Documentation has been written on the wiki for Edgy Eft Beta, including instructions for setting up diskless and installing the MueKow LTSP client. This release of Ubuntu incorporates the LTSP File System previously a CVS snapshot in the universe, together with faster boot times, and upgraded applications.

I'm very happy to see some translations are appearing on Rosetta for Swedish, German, and French. These will be incorporated into the next beta release.

Due to the imminent release of Firefox 2 the Mozilla addons queue is full with updated extensions, there is a miru directory server Thunderbird extension awaiting in the queue for approval. This is can be found in the beta 5 release directory for manual installation.

--Steve-o 2006-10-10

Launchpad/Rosetta Translations

The miru directory server has been registered and approved into the Rosetta translation system in Launchpad. This allows for simple web based translation of the interface together with a pooling of translated text with over 380 other registered products. To help translating for your language simply pop over to the translation templates page, register an account with Launchpad and start adding translations.

When translating suggestions are given based on previous entries for similar messages from other projects.


--Steve-o 2006-09-18

1.0 Beta 4 Release

A new beta of the miru directory server adds VLAN support, ported from m0n0wall. This release includes the following features:

  • NEW: Virtual LAN or VLAN support, a layer 2 or 3 switch will be required.
  • NEW: VLAN friendly DHCP service.

NB: Beta release, implements all features in the initial software requirements specification, likely unstable.

Download the image files from the repository at Novell Forge: 1.0 beta 4. The web interface can be used to upgrade 1.0 beta 3 images but read the notice on 1.0 beta 2 images.


--Steve-o 2006-08-30

1.0 Beta 3 Release

A new beta of the miru directory server adds S.M.A.R.T. disk monitoring, ported from FreeNAS. This release includes the following features:

  • NEW: S.M.A.R.T. disk monitoring.
  • FIX: Upgrade feature now can update the web interface.

NB: Beta release, implements all features in the initial software requirements specification, likely unstable.

Download the image files from the repository at Novell Forge: 1.0 beta 3. The web interface can be used to upgrade 1.0 beta 2 images but the following steps need to be taken:

  1. Download revision 26 system.inc file from SVN.
  2. Go to the exec page on the miru directory server.
  3. Upload the system.inc file to /tmp.
  4. Enable SSH and login via SSH to the server.
  5. Move the file to /etc/inc.
  6. Download the compressed ISO image for the installed platform: OCEAN-classic or OCEAN-embedded.
  7. Follow upgrade instructions through web interface.


--Steve-o 2006-08-29

1.0 Beta 2 Release

A new beta of the miru directory server adds a Mozilla Thunderbird compatible shared address book. The address book is accessed through Thunderbirds LDAP connectivitiy for reading, for creating and updating entries the web interface on the miru directory server can be used. This release includes the following features:

  • NEW: Mozilla LDAP Address Book function.
  • NEW: Upgrade function for HDD/CF installs.
  • NEW: Upload and download entire tftpboot/ directory as a tar archive.

Mozilla Thunderbird is straight forward to configure, either by account settings or global addressing:

Choose a name to display in Mozilla Thunderbird, enter the ip address of the miru directory server and enter the base DN matching the AD realm configured in the web interface
Enlarge
Choose a name to display in Mozilla Thunderbird, enter the ip address of the miru directory server and enter the base DN matching the AD realm configured in the web interface


NB: Beta release, implements all features in the initial software requirements specification, likely unstable.

Download the image files from the repository at Novell Forge: 1.0 beta 2.

Release news of the miru directory server and other Miru activity is also available on みる ブログ.

--Steve-o 2006-08-28

1.0 Beta 1 Rebuild

Two typo fixes, one in configuring the LAN interface, the other in the OPT webGUI page. Only required for users not installing in VMware. Alternative workarounds include:

  • Mount the IMG or ISO file under Linux or BSD and update the file from SVN v16.

--Steve-o 2006-08-15

VMware LTSP Demo Released

A fully working Ubuntu LTSP demo system has been uploaded to the downloads area, and installation of VMware Server or VMware Player is required. This comprises of four separate virtual machines: a NAS appliance, the Ubuntu Server, a Ubuntu MueKow terminal, and the miru directory server. This demonstrates an example deployment of a diskless workstation and a diskless LTSP server all booting from miru directory server and all files: the operating systems and user files being store on one NAS appliance.

Due to the size of the Ubuntu installation 7-zip compression has been used to create the smallest download possible: 526MB vs. 2.1GB uncompressed. 7-zip decompression tools are available for Windows, and a tool p7zip (command line: 7za) for Linux, and Unix platforms.

Further details on how to configure and use the demo can be found on the page HOWTO: miru directory server VMware LTSP demo.

--Steve-o 2006-08-11

1.0 Beta 1 Release

For both generic PC and embedded platforms the 1.0 beta 1 is now available. Improvements are based around reaching the milestone plan of supporting HDD, compact flash, CD-ROM, and PXE/NFS installations on generic PC, embedded PC: specifically PC Engines WRAP, and VMware virtual machines. All interface text is now translatable using the gettext system with the web interface in UTF-8 but the console adhering to video card character set limitations. This release has been tested with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu terminal servers.

Please report bugs and enhancement requests to Bugzilla. Feedback and discussion can be sent to the miru-ocean-user mailing list, translations and patches should be directed to the miru-ocean-dev mailing list instead.


Future work will be reserved for bug fixes and minor adjustments until version 1.0 gold release. Post release changes will occur to the backend script collection, configuration handling, and a templating system to help setup a new original theme for the web interface.

--Steve-o 2006-08-10

Bugzilla & Wiki fixed

The spiffy engineering team at Novell fixed Bugzilla so bugs can be logged, and the Wiki got a nudge so that thumbnails now appear in the documentation.

Work continues on the building documentation, then building for an embedded appliance (WRAP), and then onto various installation options for end users.

--Steve-o 2006-07-15

Test FreeSBIE 2 Core Complete

The second test release of the miru directory server is available. This version has moved from the FreeNAS core to FreeSBIE 2 as used in pfSense. All support code has also been uploaded to subversion. Details how to reproduce this image are appearing in the HOWTO: Build from SVN once Novell have fixed the image thumbnails.

Bugzilla is not functional at the moment but plenty of work is required to make a release that can be used in any environment. This means being able to install onto a hard disk (HDD) or compact flash (CF) from booting the CD-ROM image or writing a disk image directly. The milestone after that will be ensuring that the disk image works correctly on the PC Engines WRAP, the primary install platform.

Technical improvements over the current pfSense core should also appear shortly, starting with a private configuration file and then progressing to the concept of a runtime configuration. This will allow the administrator to test a different running configuration of the device and not have it written to disk.

--Steve-o 2006-07-08

Test Technology Preview Complete

The first release of the miru directory server is available. This version is based upon FreeNAS with some extra packages: Samba 4, ISC DHCP server, tftp-hpa, and an updated administration website for the new services.

Future work is on moving from a FreeNAS core to pfSense core, which is really just moving to FreeSBIE 2, and updating subversion with a complete set of tools to reproduce the build.

--Steve-o 2006-06-30

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